My View, Vol. 1

Julie over at The Corner with a View started a new link-up which is more visual and less wordy for Saturdays. Since I do want to blog more often (but sometimes am stumped for topics), this will be something fun to do.

This is my view for the day... well, the past two days.

It doesn't seem like much but it is. "It's a tree... from the second floor. What's the big whoop?" you may be asking yourself. Well, look at it again. See the flooding around the tree? That's from the two storms we've been having in L.A. You can even see the raindrops falling into the puddles around the edges of the tree. Since we've been having a severe drought this year, the rain is actually a welcomed sight.

I love the rain. I love the sight, sound, and smell of it. Sometimes I think I should move to Seattle (cue my Seattle friends renewed their campaign to get me to move up there). With my anxiety being a little on the crazy side lately, the sound of the rain has been wonderful as it has helped relax me.

My view may be limited (and, really, done on purpose as I don't want people to know where I live) this weekend, but at least it's one that I am thoroughly enjoying. Btw, if you're following me on Instagram, you can find a video I recorded of yesterday's downpour. :D

And that's all for now. I think I'm going to make myself blog all throughout Lent so expect to see more blog posts popping up during the month. ;)

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Storms, Apathetic Neighbors, St. Teresa of Avila and Our Lady sketch.

My internet, cable and phone services were down for nearly 48 hours due to the storm we've been experiencing in Southern California since Monday. I have to admit... I didn't realize how impatient I'd get without it. Not being able to communicate with friends who are off in different parts of the country, and different countries, was tough. Texting and phone calls made it a bit better but for those who's numbers I don't have and needed to talk to... yikes. I do have internet on my cell phone but I can do limited things with it. Bah! Thankfully, everything's working again... though I lost a lot of valuable time (I have deadlines).

What really struck me about the whole incident was that even though all the neighbors also had the same problem, no one bothered to pick up their cell phones and call about the problem. I was the only one. If at least two more people had called, they would've sent someone immediately, the day it had gone down. Unfortunately, most of my neighbors are apathetic towards basically everything. No mail being delivered? No one calls except me. The cable is out? No one says anything except me. It's a little hard to get things done quicker when no one else says anything. This is bordering on me complaining but I don't want to complain. I just think it's not good that no one else cares about anything else that happens in the neighborhood. Don't get me started on how they make noise at all hours of the night... or how they blast their music when you're trying to sleep. I cannot wait until I move out in a few months. lol. :D

Since I had no cable or even basic t.v. I had to rely on DVDs. I started watching this DVD on the personality and prayer of St. Teresa of Avila which is very interesting. I keep finding more and more coincidences that we share (down to the 3 dimples she had and I have). The DVD, and story of her life, has really inspired me to do a lot of things... and change other things about myself. I think it's really cool that I've found a saint that I can identify with even though we're obviously very different and she was a saint and I'm clearly not. lol. Still... I've gotten so excited about learning more about her. That is something I will be doing during Lent... when I am not working on my book.

Ooh, and I FINALLY got a chance to upload my first (rough) sketch of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This sketch has inspired me to write a book for kids. Okay, before you really look at it, let me say it was my first attempt to draw her. Also, I have VERY limited sketching skills (I work better with paint and a brush).


This definitely inspired me to write for kids. Yeah! :D And I apologize for the quality... the scanner didn't do a good job. It's a lot more detailed in person.

Alright, well, I still have a lot of work to do (that I couldn't do because of the outage) and I'm listening to Fr. Roderick's "Catholic Insider" episode he did at a hockey game (he's currently in Canada)... and the podcast is AWESOME! lol. Anyhoo, thanks for reading and God Bless. :D

More Rain, Football, Rosaries and Jamie Oliver.

Well, it's been raining since about 11 a.m. which means I missed mass. :( Normally, rain or no rain I would've gone. Unfortunately the car's brakes aren't working properly and we didn't want to risk an accident. Hmph. :-/ I really wanted to go but safety is important. I'll just go to confessions next week and see how much penance I get for missing mass... and for cursing.

The only time I let a couple (and by a couple I mean two) of curse words out is when I am watching football (also known as soccer in the U.S. and Canada). I can usually catch myself before I actually say them but sometimes I'll be so into the game, they'll slip up. And not in English or Spanish. Oh no. French is the language I use most when cursing during games. An Italian word might slip out but very rarely does that happen. Although the word isn't that bad, I still don't like saying it. I've gotten really good at thinking about what I'm going to say before I say it... except during football matches. Haha. I'm sorry, I just really get into the game. :D I think that's why people are always so amused when they watch a game with me. I tend to use sort of old fashioned words such as "golly" and "gee" so I think people are surprised the first time they hear me say the rude version of the word "poo" in French. If my beloved Liverpool FC hadn't played the way they did -- and if the manager hadn't made the line-up he did -- it wouldn't have happened. Hopefully the next game we play won't be as pitiful as today's game. I don't know where the mighty Reds went wrong. They started off the season (and pre-season) brilliantly but they've slipped quite a bit recently. Either way, I will support them because that's what a fan does -- supports them through the good and bad spells.

Moving away from one thing I love (football) to the next... I've already let my parents know that if they want to give me anything for my birthday, I want an emerald rosary. I recently bought one that had green beads with St. Jude on it but every time I tried to use it, different parts would break apart. Basically, the rosary's very fragile. I have to use the one my baptism Godmother gave me when I was a few months old because I don't have another one -- well, one that's not locked away, safe from harm. I hope I get another one soon, though, because I don't want to use the baptism rosary that much. I want to save and treasure it. Either way, I've let my parents know what I really want (because, despite my protests, they always give me something). Am I weird for always looking at different rosaries and wanting to collect different kinds? If I am, eh, don't care. lol. Seriously, though, I love rosaries and I don't feel comfortable not saying it at least once a day. :D I always feel very calm and relaxed afterwards; it's a lovely feeling. :D

Another lovely feeling? Watching Jamie Oliver cooking shows. Don't ask me why but I LOVE watching his shows. Everything from Naked Chef to Jamie's Great Italian Escape -- loved it. I've even gotten up early to watch Naked Chef on BBC America. Anyway, there's a new show of his "Jamie at Home" that's starting on the Food Network tonight. Score! And the show is going to be about organic foods -- which is what I try to mainly eat. I'm excited. Maybe I'll get some recipes to try new stuff because I need a variety. I get bored eating the same thing over and over again (and will end up hating it for a while if I eat it for months) so it's always good to learn new stuff. :D The show's actually starting in about 3-4 minutes so it's time for me to wrap up this entry.

Let's hope it doesn't rain tomorrow because I have a long list of errands to run.

Anyhoo, thanks for reading and God Bless. :D

Rain, More Goofy Ballet and St. Teresa of Avila.

*singing* It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring... Haha. Well, we officially have the first rain of the year... and maybe of the winter season. It's supposed to rain the entire weekend and into Monday morning, which I'm not too happy about. The storm's pretty big because the entire West Coast of the U.S. (and parts of Canada -- including Vancouver) are getting rain and/or snow. Just look at this (courtesy of weather.com):




Hopefully it won't be raining too badly on Sunday because I want to go to mass, darn it! lol. It's the first Sunday of the year and it would suck if I missed mass because of the potential flooding in the streets. Bah humbug! lol.

Since the rain has made my house colder than it usually is (we don't turn on the heater), I've had to resort to drinking a lot of tea and doing more goofy ballet to keep warm. And, okay, I'm also dancing like a dork because I am slightly bored and I need something to amuse me. If you know me personally, you know that I am shameless when it comes to dancing around like a spaz. Haha. I absolutely love it. I don't know why my parents keep laughing, they've had two decades to get used to my silliness. :D

Moving away from silly to being a little more serious (which is somewhat rare when I'm in a "wheeeee!!" state of mind)... I think I have finally found my kindred saint:

St. Teresa of Avila.



A few weeks (possibly months) ago, I had a dream about her, which was very cool because I'd never heard of her before then. I must've seen her picture somewhere before but I didn't know her by name. I kept saying her name over and over in my head until I full woke up. I googled her name and found out a little more about her. She's one of 3 women saints (along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Therese of Lisieux) that are considered Doctors of the Church. Since I was sick when I dreamt about her, I thought maybe I was should pray to her for help. I was already praying to St. Jude so I decided not to be greedy and keep up St. Jude's novena only. I don't know; I feel guilty asking more than one saint to pray for me. Lately (the past week or so) I've had such an intense feeling that I have to learn more about her that I went ahead and looked up a little more information about her. From what I learned, I've come to realize that she is my kindred. Although our lives are/were obviously very different, her personality, her way of thinking and some of her experiences mirror mine. She was a writer, of Spanish descent (was actually born in Spain), became fascinated with the lives of saints, became ill at a very young age (she was 19 when she started getting seriously ill; I started getting sick at 21) and we both share the fainting ailment (I, on an almost daily basis, feel like I'm going to pass out at any given moment). The list just keeps on going, too. What pretty much sealed the deal was when I read about what she did when she understood about sin and about how vanity and her friendship with certain types of women were changed when she saw what they were doing to her. After I read that I just said "Oh my goodness... I must buy her autobiography!" So, that's what I'm actually doing right now -- I type a bit in this blog and then I search on books about her. I am giving a lot (if not all) of the credit to a priest at my church for suggesting that I look into the lives of the saints I've dreamt about (and there have been many). Hopefully I'll be able to learn more and become a better person because of it. That's what I want to do; learn as much as I can, share what I find with others and live as honestly and well (but not in a material sense) as I can.

Alright, well, I am trying to keep my entries short so I think I'll just stop here. I still want to order a laminated St. Dymphna prayer card (which I don't have and can't find anywhere in my hometown) and, of course, St. Teresa's autobiography, so I'm off to do that. If anyone's getting hit with the crazy weather -- stay safe and keep warm. :D

Thanks for reading and God Bless. :D